Soap holder



United States Patent 2,881,557 SOAP HOLDER Richard R. Griner, Prairie Village, Kans. Application January 23, 1956, Serial No. 560,533 Claims. (Cl. 45-23) This invention relates generally to the field of household fixtures and, more particularly, to an improved soap holder especially adapted for installation in a wall or the like of the tub or shower space of a bathroom and forreceiving and releasably holding a bar of soap of any conventional shape in manner such that water and dissolved soap will drip from the latter in a path clearing both the holder and the wall in which the holder is installed.

It is a source of much unnecessary annoyance to householders that, with conventional types of soap holders, water having soap dissolved therein will accumulate in an unsightly and unsanitary deposit Within the holder it= self and will, with most of such conventional holders, tend to overflow'or drip out ottheholder and run along the wall on which the holder is installed. Moreover, with such conventional holders, the soap itself wasted and unnecessarily consumed by the portion thereof in contact with the accumulated watery deposit being'dissolved into-the latter.

Accordingly, it is the primary object of this invention to overcome the above-mentioned problems by the provision of an improved soap holder which is not subject to the mentioned disadvantages of conventional soap holders.

It is another important object of the invention to provide such a soap holder wherein drainage from the bar of soap is from the lowermost part of the latter, wherein the bar of soap is firmly and positively received and supported by the holder but is disposed for convenient removal, and wherein the bar of soap has only a minimum amount of its area in contact with the holder and all such areas of contact are at surfaces of the holder which diverge away from the adjacent surfaces of the bar of soap to permit rapid draining and effective drying of virtually the entire surface of the bar of soap.

It is another important object of the invention to provide such an improved soap holder which is adapted to be easily cleaned whenever necessary and is of simple and attractive configuration minimizing the .cost of production and maximumizing the utility of the device for employment in practical surroundings.

Still other important objects of the invention, including certain important details of construction, will be made clear or become apparent as the following description of the invention progresses.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. l is a perspective view of an embodiment of soap holder contemplated by this invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of such soap holder;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of the holder taken on line III-III of Fig. 2 and additionally showing the general relationship of the holder to wall structure in which it may be installed, as well as depicting in dotted lines the position which a bar of soap will occupy in the holder; and

Fig. 4 is a front elevational view of the holder.

2 Referring now to the figures of such accompanying drawing, the holder will be seen to be comprised of a main body portion generally designated 10 and a generally semi-annular or U-shaped rail portion 12. Although the body 10 and rail 12 could be formed of various materials, the preferred embodiment provides a body 10 and rail 12 of ceramic, metal, plastic or the like which may be unitarily formed by casting, molding or the like and may then be covered with an outer layer or coat (not specifically illustrated) of shiny glazing, plating or other decorative material. Obviously, the holder could alternately be formed, if desired, by manufacturing body 10 and rail 12 separately and then suitably attachingthe rail 12 to the body It) by any appropriate means in the same disposition as is shown in the drawing and will be described in connection with the preferred, unitary embodiment. It is noted that the rail 12 may serve as a grip rail or handle for use by a person arising from a bathtub or the like.

The body 10 is provided at its front with a rectangular plate portion 14 having a rectangular opening 16 therein. Extending rearwardly from the opposite sides of opening 16 are a pair of angularly converging walls 18' and 20 which intersect and merge along a vertical line 22. Ex-

tending rearwardly and upwardly from the bottom edge wardly and downwardly fromthe top edge of opening 16 and merges at an angle with sidewalls 18 and 20 along lines 32 and 34 respectively. Side walls 13 and 2d, top

wall 30 and" bottom- Wall 2'4 thus define a concavity in body 10' extendingrearwardly from the opening 16 there of whichhas angula'rly intersecting side walls and angularly converging top and bottom walls.

Rail 12 has a pair of substantially parallel leg portions 36 and 38 and a bight portion 40. Legs 36 and 38 are attached to and extend from the plate 14 at opposite sides of the opening 16 and substantially midway between the top and bottom of the latter. The generally U-shaped or semi-annular configuration of rail 12 define an aperture 42 between the body 10 and the bight 40 of rail 12. An arcuate notch 44 is provided in the bight 40 of rail 12. Such notch 44 commences at its forwardmost extremity in the top 46 of rail 12 adjacent the central, forwardmost extremity 48 of the latter, at which point it is quite shallow, and proceeds rearwardly with ever increasing depth and somewhat increasing width to the innermost extremity 50 of bight 40 which defines aperture 42. The precise configuration of the notch 44 will be clear from the various figures of the accompanying drawings.

Referring now particularly to Fig. 3, there is illustrated in dotted lines a bar of soap of conventional substantially rectangularly parallelepipedal shape. It will be observed that the bar 100 is releasably held within the holder by contacts therebetween which involve minimum areas of the bar 100. Firstly, the innermost and uppermost corners of the bar 100 contact the side Walls 18 and 20 as at 102. Secondly, the lowermost and outermost edges of the bar 100 contact the lowermost extremity 52 of notch 44 as at 104. And finally, the inner and uppermost edge of bar 100 contacts the top edge of opening 16 as at 106.

It will be observed that with the bar 100 so disposed within the holder, the lowermost extremity of bar 100 is spaced outwardly from plate 14 of body 10. Since water and dissolved soap running 011 the bar 100 Will tend to accumulate at and drip from the lowermost part 110 thereof, it will be clear that such material will be discharged from the bar 100 at a point such that in its gravitational fall it will clear the plate 14.

Although the holder of this invention could be installed in a building wall generally designated 200 in any conventional fashion, Fig. 3 will illustrate the desired general relationship in which the outer edges of plate 14 are inlaid within tiles or the like 202 and the portions of plate 14 extending outwardly beyond the side walls 18 and 20 and the top and bottom walls 30 and 24 will be secured to the main wall body 204 by cement (not shown) or any other suitable conventional means, the wall body 204 being provided with an opening 206 therein to accommodate the rearwardly extending walls 18, 20, 24 and 30 of the body 10.

It will be obvious that many minor modifications and changes could be made from the exact structure shown and described for purposes of illustration without departing from the true spirit and intention of the invention. For instance, a holder following the teachings of the invention could well be constructed for accommodating a plurality of bars of soap 100 by elongating the plate 14, providing the same with a plurality of openings 16 having cooperating walls 18, 20, 24 and 30 associated therewith, and by providing additional rails 12 or additional notches 44 in a single, more elongated rail 12. Other more minor modifications relating principally to the appearance, rather than the functioning, of the device will be still more apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is to be understood that this invention shall be deemed limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a soap holder fixture, a base portion adapted for attachment to a wall or the like and including an upright, plate-like element having an opening therein; structure extending rearwardly from the element and including wall means defining an enclosed recess behind the open- '4 ing adapted to receive a portion of a bar of soap; a rail member extending forwardly from the element and across at least a portion of the opening in spaced relation to the latter; and means presenting an upwardly and rearwardly facing notch in the member having surfaces adapted for oppositely engaging another portion of said bar of soap.

2. A fixture as set forth in claim 1, wherein said surfaces of the notch converge as the center of the notch is approached.

3. In a soap holder fixture, a base portion adapted for attachment to a wall or the like and including an upright, plate-like element having an opening therein; structure extending rearwardly from the element, including a pair of upright walls which converge as their rear extremities are approached, defining an enclosed recess behind the opening adapted to receive a portion of a bar of soap, said upright walls extending rearwardly from the element and toward each other at substantially equal angles from a directly rearward direction; a rail member extending forwardly from the element and across at least a portion of the opening in spaced relation to the latter; and means presenting an upwardly and rearwardly facing notch in the member having surfaces adapted for oppositely engaging another portion of said bar of soap.

4. A fixture as set forth in claim 3, wherein said notch is disposed directly forwardly of and spaced from the line defined by the intersection of the planes of said upright walls.

5. A fixture as set forth in claim 4, wherein said surfaces of the notch converge as the center of the notch is approached.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 85,459 Baker Nov. 3, 1931 1,536,906 Miller May s, 1925 1,889,501 Schnake Nov. 29, 193; 

